“Rip to Ollie’s F1 Career”: Esteban Ocon’s Haas Deal Leaves Vexed Fans Praying for His Rookie Teammate

After the overhaul in 2021, Haas has once again changed their entire lineup. The team lost its Team Principal Guenther Steiner last year. In the Italian’s place, Ayao Komatsu became the new leader of the American outfit. Komatsu has now made plans to improve Haas’ performance by getting new racers in the place of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen. As both their contracts are going to run out at the end of 2024, Ollie Bearman and Esteban Ocon will take their places. Earlier today, Haas announced they are taking up Ocon, who has chosen to bid farewell to Alpine.

After 5 seasons with the French team, Esteban will leave the partnership he had with rumored rival Pierre Gasly. He acknowledged the deal with the American outfit publicly on X and also shared that it will be a multi-year contract. Talking about his new step in his F1 career, Ocon said, “I am thrilled to embark on this new chapter in my F1 career and join an ambitious racing team whose spirit, work ethic, and undeniable upward trajectory has really impressed me.” Well, this is a shocking development that has sent the F1 town into a frenzy. Fans have come up with a new conspiracy that deserves special mention.

Esteban Ocon’s Haas move might be good for Hamilton

Ever since the news about Ocon stepping into Haas (the team that Nico Hulkenberg is still a part of), fans have found an interesting connection. Hulkenberg and Ocon’s records have given the F1 world reasons for being hopeful for Lewis Hamilton! Apparently, in 2017, Nico left Force India and Ocon took his place. That year, Lewis Hamilton won the World Championship. Again, in 2020, the German left Renault as Ocon took over his seat at the Enston outfit.

Formula One F1 – British Grand Prix – Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, Britain – July 7, 2024 Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton celebrates with a trophy on the podium after winning the British Grand Prix REUTERS/Andrew BoyersThat year, again, Lewis had won the World Championship. Now, history might repeat itself as Esteban Ocon is joining Haas in 2025 while Hulkenberg is leaving it. So, does this mean Lewis will win the Championship next year? Well, even if that is true, many fans are not happy that Haas picked Esteban Ocon.

Fans claim Esteban Ocon might affect Oliver Bearman’s career

With only one race left before the summer holidays start, it is high time the teams announce their recruits for 2025. So, Haas has led the way by declaring that they are taking up Esteban Ocon. The Évreaux native will team up with Ferrari junior Oliver Bearman who has already claimed one of the seats in the American team. Speaking on their latest recruit, Haas Team Principal Komatsu said, “I’m delighted we’ve secured Esteban Ocon’s services for Haas.”

The Japanese former race engineer even highlighted how the former Hungarian GP winner can contrast with the rookie, Oliver Bearman. He commented, “It was vital we had a driver with experience in beside Oliver Bearman next year, but Esteban’s only 27 – he’s still young with a lot to prove as well.” However, the fans think otherwise as they wrote: “RIP to Ollie’s F1 career” on Haas’ post about Ocon’s recruitment. This is because the 27-year-old has a history of harming his teammates’ races.

Formula One F1 – Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – Jeddah Corniche Circuit, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia – March 9, 2024 Alpine’s Esteban Ocon before the race REUTERS/Rula RouhanaIt started in 2016 when he pushed his Force India partner Sergio Perez‘s car into the wall at the Azerbaijan GP. And it happened again more recently when Ocon made a lousy attempt to pass Pierre Gasly and damaged Gasly’s car in Monaco this year. Now, Esteban Ocon’s reputation as a reckless driver seems to precede him, as one X user wrote, “I honestly didn’t ever believe replacing a Haas driver could end up being worse than their current one, and look at them proving me wrong.” The French racer will take Kevin Magnussen‘s place as the latter announced his exit from Haas.

While Magnussen is infamous for causing a crash with Sergio Perez at the 2024 Monaco GP, Ocon has way more allegations against him. Oh, and one time, even Esteban’s own boss Bruno Famin said, “History demonstrates he has an irrational red mist when it comes to racing, particularly against his teammates”? This almost proves without a doubt why fans think the soon-to-be Haas racer is not a very good choice for the team.

For any Formula 1 fan, the word “penalty” is nothing new during a race weekend. Whenever a racer makes a rash attempt to surpass his rivals or causes a suspicious crash, he gets a penalty for it. Now, a few people said, “Lifetime penalty to Gene Haas for replacing Kmag with this guy.” Perhaps they believe Haas’ owner Gene Haas has made a worse blunder by hiring Esteban Ocon than the racers whom the FIA penalizes for causing a crash.

In the current season, Haas has improved from their bottom-most position last year to maintain a P7 ranking. But as the team announced Esteban Ocon as a new appointment for 2025, one of the followers said, “Haas was having a surprisingly good season but now sadly they took their first L.” Interestingly, Ocon has earned only 3 points this year. This is less than both the outgoing Haas drivers as Kevin Magnussen has attained 5 points and Nico Hulkenberg 22.

Esteban Ocon is not the only name that has come up as a potential choice for Haas. Alfa Romeo’s Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas has declared his availability for the 2025 campaign and so has Zhou Guanyu, with another commenter sharing, “They should sign Zhou or Bottas, not this rally guy.” Esteban Ocon’s rash driving has earned him the title of a “rally driver” in F1 and many of the X users believe Haas should not have replaced K Mag with him.

Despite several fans’ protests, Esteban Ocon’s Haas deal is already set in stone. He will reunite with his former Lotus race engineer Ayao Komatsu, who will be his boss at Haas. Now, dear readers, comment below to guess whether Ocon will flourish or he will fail devastatingly as a part of Gene Haas’ army.